MC Bookstore Chapter 37 Reunion
Chapter 37 Reunion
The summer after graduating from junior high school marked the beginning of another chapter in He Yuran's life.
She has mastered the mask of "smile" perfectly over the past two years.
On the stage of life, He Yuran, this "puppet," danced skillfully, winning applause and recognition from the crowd.
However, when the curtain falls, the puppet's heart remains empty.
Aunt Li still visits her regularly. However, there is still no further news about A Xin's whereabouts.
The Civil Defense Bureau's care hasn't stopped, and my monthly living allowance continues as usual. It seems their care will continue until I graduate from university and find a job.
In the stillness of the night, whenever He Yuran lay in bed and recalled the vow of "being together forever," a pang of pain would inevitably rise in her heart.
"You big liar...you promised to be together forever..."
What followed was a long and suppressed sobbing.
After countless days and nights—
And so, the day of the first day of high school arrived.
The first day of high school was not much different from that of junior high. Groups of students chattered excitedly, their expressions varied, but most were either expectant or anxious.
He Yuran, carrying her schoolbag, followed the flow of people unhurriedly toward the huge notice board at the school gate. The class assignments were written on it; she needed to find her name and then her assigned classroom.
Her gaze swept across the room, searching for her name. A cacophony of voices filled the air: excited shouts from friends who had been assigned to the same class, and disappointed sighs from acquaintances who hadn't been in the same class.
"Ah, found it, Class 6..."
He Yuran found her class.
Then, she habitually revealed a "smile"—she was going to play the role of He Yuran, who was incredibly "expectant" and "confident" about her new high school life!
She turned around and walked to the side.
Just then—
A figure flashed past in the corner of her eye.
Time seemed to have been paused for that very moment.
That incredibly familiar face completely captured her attention.
My heart was pounding uncontrollably.
The boy was also tilting his head slightly, looking at another class assignment list. His expression was calm and serious, a stark contrast to the noisy students around him.
It can't be wrong.
Three years later, he had grown much taller. He had shed some of his childishness and gained a youthful vigor. His eyes also held a maturity beyond his years.
Her only childhood playmate... the boy who risked everything to save her from the ruins...
She would never admit her mistake.
"Shen... Zi... Xin..."
Like a dream, he uttered the name that was already etched deep in his soul.
Seemingly noticing her gaze, the boy slowly turned his head.
Eyes facing each other.
"He Yuran?"
The boy's voice was also filled with surprise.
At that moment, He Yuran's smiling mask shattered like glass.
Tears welled up without warning, blurring her vision.
It wasn't sadness or resentment, but a sense of redemption—a feeling of having lost something and then regaining it, a redemption that allowed her to be reborn.
That light, which had been extinguished for three years, illuminated her entire world again in a way she never dared to dream of.
She walked forward step by step. Each step seemed to use all her strength, yet she was so light she felt like she could fly.
Shen Zixin watched the girl walk towards her step by step—
Compared to the timid and dependent little girl I remember, she has matured considerably. She now has long hair, and her face possesses the delicate beauty of a teenage girl.
"It really is...you..." He Yuran's voice choked with sobs. She opened her arms and hugged the boy in front of her tightly.
"Yes, it's me." Shen Zixin's hands gently wrapped around her back.
The boy and girl embraced each other.
"I...I..." He Yuran couldn't say anything more. She completely let her tears flow, wailing uncontrollably, oblivious to everyone around her. She poured out all the longing she had felt over the past three years through her tears.
Shen Zixin could sense that the students around them were casting curious glances at them, to the point that they were practically watching.
But at this moment, he had no intention of pushing He Yuran away or stopping her from venting.
Let her cry her heart out.
"Don't cry," Shen Zixin whispered gently in her ear. "We've met again, haven't we?"
"Hmm..." He Yuran nodded gently, but the crying did not lessen at all; on the contrary, it became even more uncontrollable.
And so, they were reunited.
He Yuran tried hard to stop her tears, but she couldn't stop them. So she simply stopped suppressing them and let herself show him her most real and vulnerable side.
He was her light.
Always.
In the days that followed, He Yuran continued to wear that mask of "smile." Her interactions with her classmates also maintained the normal "cheerfulness" and "sociability."
She remains that popular, sunny girl.
Unfortunately, humans are social animals and need a social circle. As for those unimportant "others," a "smiling mask" is enough to deal with them.
As for the truest feelings deep within her heart, she could only keep them for A-Xin alone.
Her heart was no longer empty because of the light shining on it again.
This period was the happiest time for He Yuran.
Ah Xin only had eyes for her.
The other onlookers also took it for granted that the two of them were a perfect match.
Although neither of them ever explicitly expressed a "romantic" relationship, their deep familiarity made her feel that such a formal confirmation was unnecessary.
He Yuran felt that this kind of life would continue forever.
Until that silver-haired girl named Noah, who claimed to be "Shen Zixin of the future," suddenly barged into her world.
When He Yuran saw the familiar smile on Noah's face, she felt as if she saw another twisted and disgusting version of herself in an instant—a version of herself that also wore a smiling mask, but whose heart was already empty.
It's a kind of... instinctive rejection and disgust when seeing "one of your own kind".
The only difference is that she had A-Xin, who filled the void in her heart. Noah's heart, however, had nothing left to fill it, only a cold, iron-like resolve.
It was precisely because she herself had once possessed the same hypocritical face that she was able to see through Noah's true nature so easily at a glance.
—We absolutely cannot let this woman use her hypocritical facade to bewitch A-Xin.